Timothy combes



(No Model.)

T. GONNERS. WIRE GUTTING AND GRIMPING APPARATUS.

Suva/Mot Patented Dec. 20, 1887.

IIIIIIPI mm] n, D.C.

v N. rzrzns. Phoio-Lithagnphen Waihingln UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

. TIMOTHY CCNNERS, OF PORTLAND, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO REBECCA ELYINGERSOLL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

WIRE CUTTING AND CRIMPING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 375.312, dated December20, 1887.

' Application filed September 14, 1887. Serial No. 2l9,703. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

' Be it known that I, TIMOTHY CONNERS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Portland, in the county of Middlesex and State of 5Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in WireCutting and Crimping Apparatus, of which the'following is a full, clear,and exact description.

The object of this invention is to provide [0 machinery for rapidlyturning outthe shackles or wires for lead seals; and the inventionrelates more particularly to a machine for making that class of shacklesor wires for lead seals in which those portions of the limbs of theshackle or wire which are received within the holes in the lead sealproper are crimped or otherwise provided with projecting surfaces, whichtend to more firmly anchor the shackle or wire in a seal and prevent thefraudulent 2o stripping of the seal from the wire and its replacementthereon without readily visible evidences of fraud in the'damagedcondition of the lead or seal proper.

As hereinafter more particularly set forth and claimed, the inventionconsists of a pair of rollers provided with means for feeding the wire,other means for crimping or corrugating or otherwise producingprojections on the wire at intervals, and other mechanism for severing 0the thus crimped wire into shackle lengths.

As a convenient illustration of my invention, I have shown in theaccompanying drawings a machine for crimping or corrugating the wire inthe manner shown in Figure 4;; but I wish it understood that it iswithin the purview of my invention to substitute for these crimpingdevices any other dies or devicesfor producing any other desired shapeor kind of projection on the wires or shackles, many forms of suchprojections being now known;

and with this understanding I will now proceed to fully set forthmyinvention, and finally particularly claim the same.

1n the drawings referred to, in the several 5 figures of which likeparts are similarly designated, Fig. 1 is a top or plan view; Fig. 2, avertical section through the rollers; Fig. 3, a side elevation, and Fig.4 a diagram of the shackle produced by the machine. Upon any suitablebed or foundation, a, I

mount housings b, of ordinary construction, and in these housings Iarrange the boxes 0 for the journals of the two rollers d and 6. Theserollers may be described as male and female, respectively. The roller (1is provided 5 with the male members f and the roller 6 is provided withthe female membersg of the crimping devices, these being herein shown asa series of projections on one roller and a series of sockets ormatrices on the other, placed, say, at about something over one hundredand eighty degrees apart, and either formed in or attached to therollers. Between these crimping devices are arranged the male and femalemembers h and def the cutters, and on 6 5 the roller d is arranged ayielding gripper, It,

in the rear of the cutters, the office of which is to engage the end ofthe wire fromwhich the shackle has been severed and continue to feed itinto the machine. Of course this gripper will serve, in the firstinstance, also to in troduce the wire between the rollers to be actedupon by the said rollers; and in Fig. 2 I have shown the parts inposition either for the introduction of the wire to begin operations or7 5 as the parts will be after the shackle has been formed and cut oft.

I may coil the wire upon a reel, l, which is mounted to turn in bearingsm, and the wire n is led from this reel through the eye or guide 0,which, for convenience, may be mounted upon a cross-bar, p, secured tothe housings b b, the said eye or guide being, by preference, arrangedsubstantially in the central vertical plane of the rollers.

It will be understood that the crimping devices f gare in duplicate uponthe rollers, so as to crimp the wire in two places or at opposite endsbefore the shackle is severed. With this in mind, it will be understoodthat, supo posing the machine to start from the position shown in Fig. 2and the rollers to rotate in the directions of the arrows shown in saidfigure, the wire would be crimped by the crimping devicesfg, (shown atthe left-hand s'ide,) 5 and would be then drawn on through the rollerstoward the right, and, finally, the crimping devices shown at the rightin said figure would get around to the left of the machine, and thencrimp the wire again at that end,and I00 thereafter the knife members hz would come into position and sever the thus crimped shackle from thebody of the wire at and throw it out of the machine to the right in afinished condition, ready for application to the seal or lead.

In a machine of sufficient power more than one reel of wire may be actedupon at one time.

The gripper L is herein shown as a bar having at its ends eyes It, thebody of the bar between the said eyes working in the groove or recess Ifin the roller 01. The eyes k are fitted to headed posts r, secured tothe shaft of the roller d, with springs s interposed between said shaftand the eyes and tending normally to throw and retain the bar againstthe heads of the posts 1', so that the yielding of the gripper will beinward toward the center of the roller. Any other form ofgripper may besubstituted for that herein shown and described, although I have foundthe one illustrated very simple and eiiicient.

The boxes of the rollers (Z and 9 may be of any approved construction,such as are commonly employed for mounting rollers similar in operationto these.

It will be understood, of course, that the rollers f and g are gearedtogether in anysu'itable manueras, for example, that shown in Figs. 1and 3. The rollers may be driven from the shaft of the upper rollerthrough the medium of a belt or crank applied to the wheel t.

It is proper to direct attention to the fact that in Fig. 1 the partsare so placed as to present the gripper in elevation, while in Fig. 2the parts are shown as rotated about an eighth of a turn or a littleover.

YVhat I claim is- 1. A machine for making the shackle or wireof leadseals,the same comprising matched rollers provided with feeding devices,such as spring-grippers, crimping or corrugating or otherprojection-producing devices, such as teeth or lugs and matricestherefor, arranged upon said rollers, and a cutter, all arranged in theorder specified, and designed to introduce the wire between the rollers,provide one end with projections, feed the wire thence onward betweenthe rollers and impart to the other end similar projections, and,

finally, sever the wire to form ashackle ready for use, substantially asset forth.

2. In a machine for making crimped or corrugated wire shackles for leadseals, the combination of housings and boxes therein, with rollersarranged in said boxes and geared together, and provided with thespring-gripper k, the crimping devicesfg, and other crimping devices f'gdistant from the first-named crimping devices about as specified, and acutter, It, all arranged in the order named, and designed to operatesubstantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 8th day ofSeptember, A. D. 1887.

TIMOTHY CONNERS.

\Vitnesses:

THOMAS OCoNNnLL, MICHAEL W'ALL.

